As a probashi Bengali (Bengali living outside Bengal), one of our fondest childhood memories is gorging on mochar chop (banana blossom croquettes) every time we visited our grandmother in Kolkata, during the monsoons. She made it without fail, sometimes waking up at the crack of dawn so we could eat it  for breakfast before the family’s flight out of the city.

Banana blossoms are available all year round, but what makes it special is the immense effort that goes into cooking them, making it a literal labour of love. Even years later, biting into the crunchy, steaming goodness of a mochar chop in the monsoon feels like a warm hug from the grandparents.